Pathways Pioneer

In the fall of 2010, the Higher Learning Commission invited Mesa Community College to join a cohort of colleges and universities helping to develop and pilot a new accreditation process. This new process, called Pathways, has two focuses: Assurance and Improvement. The accreditation assurance process asks a college to submit evidence of its effectiveness and responsibility. The improvement process tasks institutions to develop an ambitious and meaningful Quality Initiative, as evidence of the institution’s commitment to improvement.

MCC is currently in the process of engaging the college community in the Assurance Process. A series of active learning sessions focused on the HLC's new criteria for accreditation are being conducted with many key stakeholders across campus. Additionally, a web-based learning resource focused on the criteria has been produced by our Center for Teaching and Learning. Here you can find the new criteria along with other valuable information related to the assurance process. A high-level summary can be found here.

informed improvement (ii)

MCC’s Quality Initiative, called informed improvement, empowers a culture of evidence-based decision-making dedicated to advancing student success. Informed improvement acknowledges the 21st century community college’s greatly increased capacity to gather and analyze relevant data, and to deploy that information to make the most effective use of the college’s resources. Placing an iterative process of critical inquiry at the heart of every college unit’s planning processes, informed improvement is premised upon the realization that every aspect of the college contributes to student learning and success.

The informed improvement team is proud to present our initiative report below.

Mesa Community College provides outstanding transfer and career and technical programs, workforce development, and life-long learning opportunities to residents of the East Valley area of Phoenix, Arizona.